More mothers returning to work, preferably part-time

More Australian women are going back to work after having children, but they prefer to work part-time and the age of their children when they rejoin the workforce is getting younger.

A new report - Parents Working Out Work - shows the proportion of mothers in employment has risen from 55 per cent in the 1991 census to 65 per cent in 2011.

Half of mothers now return to work by their child's first birthday, compared with 39 per cent of mothers in 1991.

Thirty-six per cent of mothers with children under 18 work part-time, up from 28 per cent two decades ago. A quarter of mothers work full-time, up from 23 per cent.

The Australian Institute of Family Studies research tracked changes in parental employment over the past 20 years.

Social researchers attribute the growth to higher educational qualifications, the rising cost of living and changing social attitudes.

Advertisement

Researcher at the institute Jennifer Baxter said part-time work meant women did not have to disengage from work or home life.

''It's all about part-time work,'' she said. ''These hours enable mothers to retain some time at home caring for their kids, and keep some involvement in paid work.''

Experts said last week's budget decision to slash the baby bonus marked the end of Peter Costello's baby boom and signalled a switch in government focus to boosting economic productivity in tough financial times.

You will now receive updates fromBreaking News Alert

Breaking News Alert

The proportion of couple-families with a single-income earner who works full-time - usually the father - has fallen from 32 per cent to 28 per cent in the past 20 years.

''The baby bonus was a fertility policy, not a workforce policy,'' University of Sydney professor of employment relations Marian Baird said. ''The fertility debate has largely abated; the issues about labour force size and productivity are much more to the fore of government policy thinking, of both Labor and Liberal persuasion.''

According to the report, women who work for at least 10 of the 13 months before the birth of their child are more likely to rejoin the workforce sooner after their child is born.

About three-quarters of the 2600 women surveyed had returned to work by the time their child was 13 months old, and on average returned when their child was 6.5 months old. Three-quarters returned to the job they held previously, and of these women 60 per cent went back part-time.

University-educated women in permanent professional or managerial occupations are more likely to return to work by the time their child is one.

The proportion of couple-families where both parents work full-time has not changed in 20 years; they still account for one-fifth of families. In contrast, the proportion of couple families with one full-time and one part-time income earner has risen from 27 per cent to 34 per cent in 2011.

Dr Baird described this as the ''one plus'' breadwinner model, with mothers usually the ''plus''.

''It has become a social norm,'' she said. ''Women expect part-time work, and assume its availability, after childbirth. They ask employers for it.''

But she said women paid a price for part-time work, with downgraded career options and reduced pay.

Ms Baxter said that despite the increased participation of mothers in the workforce there are gendered patterns of employment while looking after young children. While three-quarters of working mothers with a child under 11 arranged their work so they could also care for their children, less than half of fathers did this.